Beauty and the Beast truly is a tale as old as time. There’s a charm to it that seems evergreen—the idea of a beast softened and redeemed by love. But what about what the Beast’s love does for Beauty? Can it lift her out of a life in which she feels trapped? Can it awaken feelings in her that she’d never known were possible?
And most pressingly, can it bail her out of jail?
A jail cell is, in fact, where a series of mishaps leads Alexandra Brightwall in the opening scene of Julie Anne Long’s The Beast Takes a Bride. Her long-estranged husband, the war hero Colonel Magnus Brightwall—popularly known as Brightwall the Beast—is able to get her released, upon which he proposes a bargain. Magnus has a chance of being elevated to the nobility, and if Alexandra will appear on his arm and boost his reputation over the next several weeks, he’ll provide the resources for her to have a comfortable life, far away from him. But if she lets him down—again—she’ll be on her own, and she’ll never have a chance to make amends for the terrible mistake that drove them apart on their wedding night five years earlier.
Fans of Long and her Palace of Rogues series will not be surprised to learn that the couple’s home base for Operation Reputation Restoration is the Grand Palace on the Thames, the boardinghouse by the London docks that is always filled with colorful characters and endearing old friends. (Newcomers might wish for a bit less time spent with previously established characters: not because they aren’t delightful, but because they take time away from our main couple.) All of Long’s creations have warmth, wit and sparkle to spare, but most especially the two leads. Alexandra is absolutely enchanting—utterly lovely inside and out. And while Magnus is decidedly unlovely at first glance, he is a fierce, sharp-witted force to be reckoned with, someone who loves with everything he has, which is quite a lot. Their passion is intense in their sensual moments together, but it’s also intensely sweet in the quieter scenes as they strain and struggle and inch toward a common understanding. As Beast rescues Beauty and Beauty redeems Beast, it’s the love they find together that saves them both.